“Will you?” she asked suddenly, bitter. “I certainly hope so, because cancelling the wedding is not an option. It’s out of the question. Absolutely.”
“This is not exactly your wedding, Raina,” Aldon broke in. “And I’m proud of Tara’s response. She was raised to care for and respect others. She’s sensitive, concerned.”
“Yes, she is and that’s why I love her,” Lynch proclaimed, coming to Tara’s defense.
Raina turned on Aldon then. “If your daughter’s so sensitive, how dare she threaten to hurt the man she loves and cancel the wedding over something as foolish as this?”
“Your grandson is something foolish?” Aldon replied.
“It’s obvious the child’s mother is after nothing but money,” Raina declared. “Why else would she show up unannounced with the boy? This is simply a form of blackmail. I’ve seen it before and I’ll see it again. But will I be prey to it? Never.”
“I insisted that Bala come with the child,” Tara stood strong. “I couldn’t believe that Lynch had a son unless I saw him for myself.”
“So you saw him,” Raina proclaimed. “Do you want a medal for that?”
“I also wanted to see how Lynch would react,” Tara went on, blocking Raina’s comment. “I wanted to see if he and his son at least knew each other.”
“We do not,” said Lynch quietly. “That was not part of the arrangement.”
“It’s awful, just awful,” Tara began weeping again. “You’ve abandoned your son, I can hardly bear it.”
“You, you, you! Is this all about you?” Raina blasted her. “How dare you say my son abandoned his child? You, yourself, just threatened to abandon everyone, to call off your entire wedding! How do you think Lynch feels about that?”
“There’s no comparison,” Tara barely caught her breath. “I didn’t keep life changing secrets from him.”
“I never thought of this as a secret,” Lynch had trouble speaking now. “I thought of it as a mistake I made that I’m taking care of now, quietly.” His face grew pale.
“Tara,” Raina exclaimed. “You are about to become a member of our family, a very prominent family. Hundreds of guests are arriving for your wedding. You think you can stop it just like that?”
“I’ll handle this mother,” Lynch tried to intervene.
“There’s nothing to handle, Lynch,” said Tara, “I can’t go through with the wedding now.”
Lynch tried to get closer to her. “This is crazy, Tara, I love you. I can’t lose you like this. We’ll find a way, we’ll talk it over.
“I love you too, but I don’t know who you are anymore, “Tara whimpered.
“Oh God,” Mattheus suddenly burst out, startling everyone. “This has gotten completely out of hand. Tara, there’s no reason to cancel the wedding over something like this.”
“Finally, some plain common sense,” Raina murmured, looking at Mattheus admiringly.
“Cindy and I have investigated all kinds of cases,” Mattheus went on, “we’ve seen awful things happen, deceit, disaster, heartless murder. This is just a normal bump in the road. You’ve got to give the guy a chance to make it right. You weren’t dating Lynch when he had the child. He hasn’t cheated on you. What has it got to do with your wedding?”
Tara looked over at Cindy, who just shook her head.
Aldon, outraged, went over to Mattheus directly. “You were not hired for your expert opinion,” he said. “You were hired to gather plain information and you did your job perfectly. More than this is not required of you.”
“Your daughter’s making a terrible mistake,” Mattheus insisted. “I feel it.”
“In plain English, your assignment is over,” Aldon continued, “and you’re free to leave, right now.”
“Wait a minute,” Tara, interrupted. “I don’t want Cindy to go. I like having her here. I want to talk to her more about it.”
Cindy was surprised and touched. She liked Tara as well, admired her greatly.
“Very well then, I’m not firing Cindy, only Mattheus,” said Aldon.
“Cindy and I work as a team or not at all,” Mattheus retorted and threw a swift glance at Cindy.
“Is that so?” asked Aldon.
“Yes, it is,” Cindy agreed.
“Let them stay on a little while longer then,” Tara pleaded.
Aldon quickly agreed. “Fine, stay as long as Tara wants you here,” he said perfunctorily.
At that Raina turned to Lynch, and pulled him to the side. “I am not staying here in the midst of this maelstrom. I’m just telling you to make up with your bride! Do it however you can. Get Mattheus to convince Cindy to convince Tara. I couldn’t care less how.”
Lynch looked staggered. “I’ll do my best,” he said quietly.
““Your best better be good enough,” Raina’s voice grew shrill. “You two must go forward with the wedding. You can’t make a public fool of our family this way. If you do you’ll no longer be able to work for the company. You’ll end up disinherited.”